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Phish’s Page McConnell is a "Rocket Man"

The second leg of Phish’s summer tour continued last night with the first of two shows at the Lake Tahoe’s Outdoor Arena at Harvey’s. This was the band’s debut performance at the 7,000 person open-air venue, which is nestled in the mountains of Stateline, NV. Fans were given the chance to view the concert from home with a live pay per view webcast offered via the band’s Livephish.com website.

The show kicked off in celebratory fashion with “Party Time” before moving into the pairing of “Oh Kee Pah Ceremony” into “AC/DC Bag.” This was followed by the rarely played Bob Marley cover “Mellow Mood,” which made an appearance earlier this summer at Darien Center, NY. Later in the set, the fast-paced version of “Water in the Sky” returned with a high energy “46 Days” bringing things to a close.

Dodging the question of whether the webcast would lead to less
jamming, the second set saw the quartet dig into some of the deepest and most exploratory improv of the entire summer. The highlight of the night came during a far-reaching “Light” that featured an extended, futuristic jam stretching over 15 minutes. “Chalkdust Torture,” a song that has seen an increased level of jamming since the reunion in 2009, also ventured away from its structure into a segment of spacey, psych rock. The song included a handful of teases, including “Hedwig’s Theme” from the Harry Potter movies. Toward the end of the set, Phish debuted their cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” featuring Page McConnell on vocal duties. The band returns to the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena again tonight, which will once again be webcast live via Livephish.com.